זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל Su-27SK Finished!!!

[Gondor]

The זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל or Israeli Air Force came into possession of it's Su-27SK in 2002 when a defecting pilot of the القوات الجوية العربية السورية or Syrian Arab Air Force flew the recently arrived aircraft to Israel. Nothing was known about the defection from either Syrian or Israeli sources with the Syrian's not wanting to lose any credibility over the defection and Israel wanting to keep the prize to themselves or to use as a bargaining chip with the USA. After a couple of years the aircraft was displayed at Hetzerim Airbase with other captured/defected aircraft.


The Build

For this build I am using the Airfix Su-27 along with weapons from various Dragon 1/72 scale Soviet weapons sets. Markings will mostly be from Begemot "Flanker" family (1) 72-025 with the additional Star of David coming from other sources

Gondor

[Gondor]

So a little work has been done, the detail for the cockpit has been given a rather crude dry brushing as the cockpit was previously painted with a coat of paint. This was checked with the moderators prior to entering the build to the competition. Another item that was cleared with the moderators was the main engine intakes. The half's of both intakes and the internal debris guards had been glued together, three parts to each so not much work carried out. Anyway, a picture to show what little detail I have on the cockpit bathtub.



As I was dry-brushing with black paint I started by painting the cockpit combing first so loading the brush with paint.

More later

Gondor

[TheChronicOne]

Go, man, go!  I am looking forward to this one, for sure.

[Gondor]

Finally got around to making some progress on this build. Glued the cockpit into the upper fuselage and then glued the lower fuselage to the upper fuselage. Filler has been applied under the LEX and at the sides of the fuselage booms behind where the wings will go as there are steps there which will require some heavy sanding for the LEX.

Gondor

[Gondor]

The wings were fitted yesterday after the underside of the LEX were sanded smooth. There are gaps on the upper join between the wings and fuselage which I may fill with plastic strip, as that would save filler. It's not a new Airfix kit so not exactly the best fit ever so I half expect something like this.

Starting to look like an Su-27 now.

Gondor

[McColm]

Interesting build

[Gondor]

Thought I better put up a couple of pictures to make this thread a little more interesting





You can easily see where I have had to use plastic card shims to fill in the gaps. Not exactly one of Airfix's finest models but not one of their worst either. Probably going to be some more PSR around the intakes to come yet but at least it looks like an Su-27 which is what I am after.

Gondor

[Captain Canada]

Interesting. To be done in their current camo scheme ? 

[DogfighterZen]

Interesting. To be done in their current camo scheme ? 

I was thinking the same, the Flanker with Israeli F-16's camo? 

[Gondor]

Syrian with Star of David markings as well, just like the MiG 23 they have.

Gondor

[DogfighterZen]

Syrian with Star of David markings as well, just like the MiG 23 they have.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Managed to get around to sanding back some of the filler I applied to the engine intake trunking. Going to have to apply some more filler as its not exactly the best fitting kit as it comes from the Heller collaboration era which also means a few fuzzy details in my eyes.

Currently cutting/hacking off the leading edge and trailing edge flaps because I was not happy with what looked like trenches rather than the much more smoother joint between parts than there was.

Still, it's progress 

Gondor

[Gondor]

PSR, PSR, PSR 

Nothing but PSR 

Well that and managing to make a so so job of removing the flaps. I ended up having to glue a couple of pieces back together because I decided that I could snap the flaps off after scoring the recesses that defined them for some time.95% success rate I would say 

Its looking better though. Nice smooth flowing lines with great big lumps of filler in a few places at the moment but that phase will pass soon enough. I might add the vertical tail surfaces later.

Gondor

[Gondor]

It looks at the moment as if this build might come to a grinding halt, or maybe just a pause. While checking out the vertical tail surfaces I looked over and counted up the other parts inside the box. No nose wheels 

They could just be lost on the work bench, which I am hoping is where it is otherwise I will have to rob Peter to pay Paul by taking the mose wheel from the Heller two seater for this Airfix single seater until I find the wheel. At least I have a back up plan 

Good job the tail fins are handed by their locating slot/tab as they were separate and floating around inside the box so I had no idea which was which.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Checked the Heller Su-27UB and found that I was planning to convert it to an Su-30 with twin nose wheels so pinching the nose wheel from that kit is not a problem. SAC also do a 1/72 Su-27 undercarriage set without any wheels  but resin wheels are available so that's not a problem, just an expense 

The PSR is almost over for the fuselage. Only two areas needing further treatment, the stinger and the nose when I add the nose. Feeling fairly positive about this build so hoping to have this in some sort of presentable situation for the Scottish Nationals at the end of the month which means that I have probably just given this build the kiss of death 

Gondor